Pte 24572 William Wing

• Age: 29
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 3rd July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

William Wing was born in the September quarter of 1886 in Toxteth Park, Liverpool to Robert Wing and Margaret Ann (nee Shaw), who were  married in Toxteth Park in 1881. His father Robert was a British subject born in Brooklyn, New York, his mother Margaret was born in Liverpool. William was baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Toxteth Park on 22nd August 1886.

Robert and Margaret had eight children, one of whom died young. William was the third of the surviving seven children. His siblings were Henry, Robert, Mary, Margaret,   Ellen, and Thomas.

In 1891 the family is living in Cavendish Road, Walton.  His father Robert is a seaman. They have four children; William is 5.  

 In 1901 the family is living at 60 Cavendish Road Walton. His father is a joiner’s labourer, his mother is a laundress.  They have seven children, William is 14.

William’s father died in 1904 at age 50. 

In 1908 William married Elizabeth Free in Liverpool. Their first child, a daughter Lilian, was born in 1909 but sadly died in infancy.  Their son William Henry was born in 1910.

The 1911 census shows his widowed mother Margaret, a charwoman, still living at 60 Cavendish Road with his siblings Mary, Maggie, Ellen, and Thomas.  William, his wife and son are not definitively found on the 1911 census.  A likely listing shows William (born in Aigburth, a brickfield labourer) with wife Lily and son William Henry at 6 Salisbury Road.  Two daughters were born, Ivy in 1912 and Lily in 1914.  William’s name appears on the electoral register for Walton 1914-15.  Another daughter, Elsie, was born in 1916, but died in infancy.

It is not known when William enlisted, but he served as Private 24572, in the 17^th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment. He would have trained in the U.K. before shipping to France. 

In June 1916 the battalion is in the front line near Maricourt.  On 1^st July 1916 the Battle of the Somme begins, the bloodiest day in British military history.  

William was killed in action two days later on July 03rd 1916, aged 29 years.

His body was not recovered from the Battlefield or was subsequently lost as he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.  

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

He was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post 21st August 1916

King's (Liverpool Regiment) - Wing, 24572, W. (Liverpool)

William's death was not the only loss that the family had to suffer as his brother Robert served as a Fireman and Trimmer in the Merchant Marine during the war and was killed when the S.S. La Negra was torpedoed in the English Channel on 03rd September 1917. He was 28 years of age and the husband of Margaret Ann Wing (nee Hart), of 85, Herbert St., Walton-on-the-Hill, Liverpool. He is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London.

William's widow, Elizabeth, was notified of William’s death on 26^th July 1916. His children were 5, 3, and 1 year old when he was killed.  William’s effects and pension went to Elizabeth, at 59 Sandon Road, Walton.

She remarried to Alfred Peters in 1918 and had a daughter Dorothy born in the March quarter of 1920.

William’s mother died in 1936 aged 72. 

In 1939 son William and daughter Lily are living with their mother and stepfather at 103 Daneville Road.  William died in 1988.  His daughter Ivy married and had a son she called William; she died in 1977.

William is commemorated on the Memorial at Northcote Council School, Walton.

We currently have no further information on William Wing, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.